It's clear that the early Israelites were polytheistic. For example, the first of the 10 commandments is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me", not "I am the only god". There are plenty of similar examples from the earlier parts of the Hebrew Bible. (There is also plenty of archaeological evidence to back this up). The divinity of Jesus is an interesting one. One of the earliest passages we have on that is Romans 1v4. It seems to indicate that Jesus acquired his divinity at his resurrection. The gospel of Mark, according to the vast majority of scholars, was written some time shortly after AD 70 (or around 40 years after Jesus was executed). Mark 1v9-11 indicates that Jesus acquired his divinity at his baptism. Scholars also generally agree that Matthew was written 10 or so years after Mark. Matthew 1v18-24 indicates Jesus acquired his divinity at conception (by the Holy Spirit, without Mary's consent). When Luke was written is a matter of debate. Some scholars argue that it was written at a similar time to Matthew, others that it was written around the turn of the century. However the first two chapters of Luke tell a similar story to Matthew (as far as Jesus's divinity goes) in that Jesus acquired his divinity with his conception. (With Luke, at least the angel gives Mary some warning about it, if not exactly asking for her consent). It is generally agreed that John was written last and, as you stated, he has Jesus being divine from the "beginning". This all sounds like the proverbial fisherman's tale. It gets more extreme with each retelling. One last point, we certainly do not know that the gospel of John was written by John the disciple of Jesus. He would have been long dead by the time it was written. In fact we have no idea who wrote any of the gospels. They were all anonymous. The names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were dreamt up by Irenaeus, an early church father, some time in the mid-second century. His reasoning for assigning those names was dubious.
It's clear that the early Israelites were polytheistic. For example, the first of the 10 commandments is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me", not "I am the only god". There are plenty of similar examples from the earlier parts of the Hebrew Bible. (There is also plenty of archaeological evidence to back this up).
The divinity of Jesus is an interesting one. One of the earliest passages we have on that is Romans 1v4. It seems to indicate that Jesus acquired his divinity at his resurrection.
The gospel of Mark, according to the vast majority of scholars, was written some time shortly after AD 70 (or around 40 years after Jesus was executed). Mark 1v9-11 indicates that Jesus acquired his divinity at his baptism.
Scholars also generally agree that Matthew was written 10 or so years after Mark. Matthew 1v18-24 indicates Jesus acquired his divinity at conception (by the Holy Spirit, without Mary's consent).
When Luke was written is a matter of debate. Some scholars argue that it was written at a similar time to Matthew, others that it was written around the turn of the century. However the first two chapters of Luke tell a similar story to Matthew (as far as Jesus's divinity goes) in that Jesus acquired his divinity with his conception. (With Luke, at least the angel gives Mary some warning about it, if not exactly asking for her consent).
It is generally agreed that John was written last and, as you stated, he has Jesus being divine from the "beginning".
This all sounds like the proverbial fisherman's tale. It gets more extreme with each retelling.
One last point, we certainly do not know that the gospel of John was written by John the disciple of Jesus. He would have been long dead by the time it was written. In fact we have no idea who wrote any of the gospels. They were all anonymous. The names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were dreamt up by Irenaeus, an early church father, some time in the mid-second century. His reasoning for assigning those names was dubious.